


t.hanks fr th mmrs

by nowrunalong



Series: down the road [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 05:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10656051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong
Summary: Faith and Tara shop for greeting cards. Teenage runaways / couchsurfing AU.





	t.hanks fr th mmrs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slutorama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slutorama/gifts).



> happy birthday, jess! love you.

“This one!” Faith announces, picking up the first card that catches her eye and waving it in Tara’s face. “It’s perfect.”

It’s a black and white thank-you card with a photo of Tom Hanks’ face. The caption reads “T.HANKS”. Tara blinks.

“Um. I-I dunno.”

“It’s punny,” Faith says, defending her choice. “I’m not exactly shitting myself with laughter, though.” She sticks the card back on the rack in the Mother’s Day section. “It’s cool. We’ll find something better.”

Tara moves the card back to the right section and picks up a generic card with a cat on it.

“Kitty?” she says, and holds it up for Faith’s approval. “It’s sweet, and who doesn’t like kittens?”

“You know I’m more of a dog person, T."

“We could get one with a puppy instead,” Tara says, putting the cat card away.

Faith shrugs. “Maybe. Hey—this one’s personable. Personalized.” She frowns. “Personalizable? Whatever. It’s fill-in-the-blanks. Like mad libs.”

“Mad libs?”

“You know. There’s a story, except bits are missin’, so I go, ‘give me an adjective,’ and you go, ‘scared shitless', and you end up with somethin’ like ‘the priest was scared shitless when the donkey fell tits-up into the pews.”

“Th-they taught you this at school?”

“Yeah,” Faith says, flipping open the card and contemplating the blanks inside. “Some kinda grammar lesson. Learnin’ what a verb is. That stuff. What do you think? ‘ _Thank you for_ … letting us crash on your dirty-ass floor. We had a fucking blast roomin’ with the roaches while you and your chick were bangin’ on the other side of the wall.’”

Tara tugs the card gently out of Faith’s hands and checks the text inside with a tiny smirk.

“I think you ad-libbed a bit with the mad lib.”

“Well I sure as hell ain’t fillin’ in the ‘ _I really appreciated_ ’ bit.”

“Maybe we need a different card,” Tara suggests.

“Yeah. Most of these are bullshit, though. ‘ _Your thoughtfulness is a gift I will always treasure_ ’? Remind me again why we’re even buyin’ this dude a card.”

“Because it’s polite to say thank-you—and because a card is cheaper than buying an actual thank-you gift."

“Right. And, uh—what are we thankin’ him for?”

“For letting us room with the roaches.” Tara sighs. “I know it sucked, baby. I’m not disagreeing with you. But it’s better than being at home, right? I’m thankful for anyone that keeps us together and off the streets.”

“Okay,” Faith agrees. “How about this one? ‘ _Thank you. You brought joy to our day, warmth to our lives, and happiness to our hearts_.’”

“‘ _Happiness to our hearts_ ’? Let’s not go overboard.”

“There’s a little slot for a picture,” Faith adds. “You could include that beauty shot of Harold the cockroach you took with the Polaroid.”

“Nuh-uh. I’m saving that for the scrapbook.”

Faith gives her a look.

“How about this one?” Tara says, picking up yet another card. “It’s kinda cute.”

“It’s not cute,” Faith says. “It’s awful. T, it’s fucking awful. Let’s get it.”

Tara grins, takes Faith’s hand, and pull her toward the checkout.

—

In the morning, Liam heads to the kitchen for breakfast to find an obnoxiously yellow card propped up against the fruit bowl, next to a dollar-store vase holding a single daisy.

“Thank you _Liam_. You are 1 in a Minion! From _Tara & Faith_.”


End file.
